joe rubino

I am laughing reading this thread because I think you critics are out of your minds. So, Preston Wilson talks fast. Big deal. He didn't go to announcer's school where they teach everyone to talk like Kevin Harlan or Mike Breen. He was busy playing baseball. He'll get better at that. The reason I love Preston is for his knowledge and his wit. He has said dozens of things I have never, ever heard commentators talk about. I am 63 years old and have been listening to baseball announcers for more than 50 years. I am sick and tired of these talking heads, especially on ESPN and MLB.com, who have absolutely nothing to say. They just regurgitate the same old clichés over again. Nothing different that I have heard for 30 or 40 years. Totally boring. I cannot listen to most modern-day announcers without falling asleep. As good as Tommy Hutton is, there is only so much knowledge he can impart. If you have been listening to Tommy his entire career, you can almost predict what he is going to say at any given moment. Again, I am not criticizing Hutton, I think he is terrific. But there are a finite and well-known group of comments emanating from his mouth. Preston Wilson, on the other hand, provides insights from a former player that I have rarely, if ever heard before. Unique thoughts about what a player is thinking about at the plate. Pitchers and batters approaches when facing each other for the first time, and how they then think in subsequent at bats. Plus, his stories about certain players and teams are very funny, and they are stories I have never heard before. You guys are way too caught up about his less than classic delivery, but you are off-base. Last weekend when Rich Waltz was off Friday and Saturday, Hutton did play-by-play with Wilson and Jeff Conine in the booth. Now, we all love Jeff Conine, but he was practically a mute robot next to Preston. Many of his remarks were simply follow-ups to Wilson's. I think that many of you critics are young and measure your broadcasters by guys like Jim Rome and Colin Herd, two young guys that are popular with young listeners but not-so-much with guys like me. While guys like Rome and Herd are easy to listen too, they have nothing original to say. Straight regurgitation of popular talking points. I like announcers that I can learn something from, not guys who are slick talkers and masters of the cliché.